Diplomatic pressure from Washington is increasing for Hamas and Israel to say yes to the new ceasefire proposal in Gaza that President Joe Biden announced almost a week ago. While negotiators are meeting in Qatar to discuss the details of the plan, the leaders of 17 countries, including Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, and at the initiative of the United States, have urged the parties to accept the plan. His statement coincides with the Israeli bombing of a school in Gaza, in which at least 35 people have died, and with Spain’s announcement that it will join South Africa in the case opened against Israel in the UN International Court of Justice. for genocide.
“At this decisive moment,” the signatory countries say in a joint statement, “we urge the leaders of Israel and Hamas to adopt the final commitments necessary to close this agreement.” The text uses the same expression, “decisive moment,” that Biden used on Friday the 31st to describe the current situation in the war and the negotiations for a truce, under the mediation of the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
In addition to the aforementioned countries, the statement released by the White House is also signed by the leaders of Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Thailand and the United Kingdom. This is a very heterogeneous group of countries, which manages to bring together some with more sensitivity towards Israel and others more active in defending Palestinian interests.
“It is time for the war to end, and this agreement contains what is necessary to begin” the process, the signatories maintain. “As leaders of countries deeply concerned about the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including many of our own citizens, we fully support the initiative for a ceasefire and hostage exchange that is on the table… there is no time to waste,” they explain.
The leaders also note that the proposal, which the United States insists is Israeli-authored, would lead to an “immediate ceasefire and rehabilitation of Gaza, along with security guarantees for Israelis and Palestinians, and opportunities for a peace of more durable long-term and a two-state solution.”
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The proposal, as Biden described it seven days ago, consists of three phases. In the first, a truce of at least six weeks would be implemented, during which an exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would take place for the hostages captured by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the attacks of October 7 and held in Gaza since then. Those hostages would be women, the elderly, the wounded and the sick.
In addition, Israeli forces would withdraw from populated centers in the Strip and Palestinian refugees could return to what remains of their homes, after a war that has left more than 36,000 Palestinian dead, twice as many injured and has destroyed much of of buildings and infrastructure. 600 trucks a day with humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter.
In the second phase, the Israeli withdrawal from the entire territory of the Strip and the exchange of Israeli hostages – including soldiers – and Palestinian prisoners would be completed. A permanent ceasefire would then come into effect. The third phase would be reconstruction.
The mere public revelation by Biden of the details of the proposal, in a statement at the White House, marked the beginning of a new stage of American pressure on the Netanyahu government to accept the proposal. This would allow, at least, a temporary ceasefire that the White House needs five months before a US election that appears very close and when it is being showered with criticism from the progressive Democratic wing about its pro-Israeli position in the war.
But so far the Israeli prime minister, who faces serious divisions in his very right-wing government coalition, has resisted giving a clear answer. Netanyahu insists he cannot accept a ceasefire as long as Hamas remains in place, and two members of his coalition, Finance Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and National Security Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have threatened to break it if no agreement is reached. type of truce without having destroyed the fundamentalist militia.
Biden assured on Friday that the radical Palestinian group is no longer in a position to repeat the attacks of October 7, in which more than 1,200 people died. In an interview with the magazine time and published this week, the president declared that “there are all kinds of reasons to believe” that the prime minister is delaying the end of the war for reasons of political survival.
Since the announcement of the proposal, the White House has publicly expressed its belief that Israel will end up accepting it if Hamas also gives its approval. His Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, is in the area, as is CIA Director William Burns. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was speaking by phone with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt, as well as with two members of Netanyahu’s Cabinet, Benny Gantz and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Biden himself, now in Normandy to attend the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, did the same with the Qatari emir before leaving for France.
“The Israeli government has repeatedly confirmed, including today, that the proposal is still on the table and that it is now up to Hamas to accept it, and the entire world should demand that Hamas accept it,” the White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who accompanies Biden on his European trip.
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